Glastonbury 2019 Emerging Talent Competition Longlist Announced (And My 3 Selections)

Every year since 2011 I have been one of the judges for the opening round of the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, the winner of which gets to play a main stage slot at the festival and receives £5,000 from PRS Foundation to help take their songwriting and performance to the next level.

This year was no different and today the festival has announced the 2019 longlist from which a shortlist of 8 will be chosen.

How It Works

Every year there are thousands of entries for this competition. Whittling them down to an eventual winner is a three-stage process and my involvement is in the first stage alongside 29 other judges. 

Each judge is sent an individual list of around 170 acts that have entered the competition. I’m required to pick three acts from that list that are then placed on the shortlist. Each judge can request to listen to specific genres or take a selection of acts from all genres. I take this second option, mainly because it makes the judging process more fun; the thought of listening to 170 indie rock acts for example could become hard work. Each artists submission is a recording of their music on Soundcloud together with a video of themselves playing live and that’s what I use to pick my three acts. Their online statistics, if I’ve heard of them before and other such factors are discounted. My choice is based purely on what I consider to be the acts with the most talent, what moves me the most and which live performance videos show that the artist is ready and able to play a main stage at Glastonbury – as that is the eventual prize.

For 2019 my experience was that the quality of artist submissions was higher than ever before. I really struggled to choose my final three – I could have easily chosen nine or ten acts that were worthy of the longlist. You can see (and hear) my choices below.

Once the longlist of ninety has been selected another panel of judges from the festival whittle those acts down to a shortlist of eight who are invited to come and play at a live final at Pilton Working Men’s Club in April infront of an invited audience. It’s based on that live performance that the eventual winner of the competition is chosen by a panel representing the festival.

For further information on the competition, including the full longlist, hop on over to the official Glastonbury website by clicking here and do take a listen to my three choices for 2019 below.

Amahla

Amahla has an effortlessly beautiful tone to her voice. She sings the most gorgeous and soulful songs, marking her as a huge talent for the future.



Amy Vix

With elements of country, Americana and rock incorporated in her music, Amy Vix also possesses a wonderful pop sensibility, displayed in radio friendly songs like Over The Wreckage, which has some similarity to Taylor Swift.



Anoushka Lucas

It takes just one listen to the warm elegant vocals and jazzy atmospherics of Anoushka Lucas to be impressed. Superb stuff.

Competition News: Glastonbury Festival Emerging Talent Competition 2019 Details

Glastonbury Festival is gearing up for its 2019 and at the moment just 3 of the acts appearing have been announced: Stormzy, Kylie Minogue and Janelle Monae. However, today there’s a bit more news as the festival announces details of its 2019 Emerging Talent Competition, which is once again supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation.  

Every year since 2011 I’ve been involved in helping judge the Emerging Talent Competition and 2019 will be no different as I join a panel of 29 other UK music writers to help compile a longlist of 90 acts from the entries. The longlist will then be narrowed down to a shortlist of eight artists by judges including Glastonbury organisers Michael and Emily Eavis, before the live finals in Pilton in April decide the winning act. For the past four competitions, all eight of the finalists were offered slots at that year’s Festival.

The competition gives new UK and Ireland-based artists of any musical genre the chance to compete for a slot on one of the main stages at this year’s Festival. There used to be a misconception that only folky or rock-based acts stood a chance of winning, but the last few years have demonstrated that this is far from the case. We’ve yet to have a jazz act or an ambient electronic artist win, but maybe 2019 will be the year?

The winners of the free-to-enter competition will also be awarded a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation to help take their songwriting and performing to the next level. Two runners-up will also each be awarded a £2,500 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize. 

Acts can enter the 2019 competition for one week only from 9am Monday 28th January until 5pm Monday 4th February 2019 via glastonburyfestivals.co.uk. 

Recent Emerging Talent Competition finalists include Nigerian-born rapper Flohio, who features on the BBC’s Sound of 2019 list; R&B singer Izzy Bizu (a 2016 BRITs Critics’ Choice nominee and winner of the 2016 BBC Music Introducing Award); and singer-songwriter Declan McKenna, who won ETC 2015 and subsequently signed with Columbia and released a successful debut album. The 2017 ETC winner was soulful singer Josh Barry, who has since toured with Rag’n’Bone Man and Gorgon City and is due to release his debut album this year. Meanwhile, 2016 winners She Drew The Gun have received considerable acclaim for their politically-inspired psych-pop, with their latest album Revolution Of The Mind named among BBC 6 Music’s Top 10 albums of 2018. 

And even if they didn’t make it through to the final, previous longlisted acts include the likes of Nadine Shah, Circa Waves, Slaves and Fickle Friends who are all now pretty well-known names. Some of my past choices of longlisted acts include the likes of AK/DK, Cosmo Sheldrake, Wyldest and Avec Sans. I’ve yet to pick the winner (a lot depends on what selection you are asked to judge) although I have chosen acts that have made it through to the final.

To enter, acts will need to supply a link to one original song on SoundCloud, plus a link to a video of themselves performing live (even if it’s only recorded in a bedroom). As a judge here’s an important tip for any artist thinking of entering from me: make sure the links you supply work. Every year there are always acts that either provide an incorrect link or then removes the video / track before the competition. Also make sure the live performance is representative of what you do and is actually live. Ultimately if you make it through to the final, you’ll have to play live and it will be hugely embarrassing for everyone if you can’t do it well.

So, if you want to enter, set a date in your diary for Monday 28th January and get your entry in sharpish on the Glastonbury website. And good luck!